Star Trek: Discovery is bringing along Next Generation's Commander Riker as it charts its bold new journey, although not necessarily in the capacity you'd first expect.

The upcoming prequel to the 1960s Star Trek series has phased in Jonathan Frakes to direct one of its first season episodes, reports Entertainment Weekly.

Frakes most famously portrayed Jean-Luc Picard's right-hand-man William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but his involvement in the franchise stretches behind the camera as well.

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The 64-year-old directed eight Next Generation episodes (including the all-time classic 'Cause and Effect'), as well as spin-offs Deep Space Nine and Voyager and the films Star Trek: First Contact (one of the good ones) and Star Trek: Insurrection (meh!).

"Jonathan Frakes will rejoin the Trek world with Discovery," co-showrunner Gretchen J. Berg announced. "He's a fantastic guy and great director."

Intriguingly, Jonathan Frakes's TNG co-star Michael Dorn — who played the noble Klingon Worf — turned down a role in Star Trek: Discovery because he was offered "less than 1 percent" of the money he earned from his last appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002.

The CBS All Access series takes place roughly a decade before the original Star Trek, as a chain of events leads the USS Shenzhou's first officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) into a fateful new position on board the USS Discovery.

In the US, CBS will air the first Star Trek: Discovery episode on Sunday, September 24 before new episodes premiere on streaming platform CBS All Access. Netflix carries the show in the UK.